A Steady Brightness of Being: Truths, Wisdom, and Love from Celebrated Indigenous Voices

Bringing together voices from across Turtle Island, a groundbreaking collection of letters from Indigenous writers, activists, and thinkers--to their ancestors, to future generations, and to themselves.

Drawing on the wisdom and personal experience of its esteemed contributors, this first-of-its-kind anthology tackles complex questions of our times to provide a rich tapestry of Indigenous life, past, present, and future. The letters explore the histories that have brought us to this moment, the challenges and crises faced by present-day communities, and the visions that will lead us to a new architecture for thinking about Indigeneity. Taking its structure from the medicine bundle--tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweetgrass--it will stir and empower readers, as well as enrich an essential and ongoing conversation about what reconciliation looks like and what it means to be Indigenous today.

CONTRIBUTORS:
Billy-Ray Belcourt, Cindy Blackstock, Cody Caetano, Warren Cariou, Norma Dunning, Kyle Edwards, Jennifer Grenz, Jon Hickey, Jessica Johns, Wab Kinew, Terese Marie Mailhot, Kent Monkman, Simon Moya-Smith, Pamela Palmater, Tamara Podemski, Waubgeshig Rice, David A. Robertson, Niigaan Sinclair, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Zoe Todd, David Treuer, Richard Van Camp, katherena vermette, Jesse Wente, Joshua Whitehead.

Author: Sara Sinclair
Publisher: Penguin Books Canada
Published: 08/26/2025
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.60w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780735250369


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/08/2025

About the Author
STEPHANIE SINCLAIR is Publisher of McClelland & Stewart, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada. She is a Cree, Ojibwe, and German/Jewish settler. She is a fierce advocate and activist, serving as a mentor and curator, and organizing publishing events to challenge colonial practices in publishing and to advance the work of reconciliation. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with her two children.

SARA SINCLAIR is an oral historian of Cree-Ojibwa, German/Jewish, and British descent. Sara teaches in the Oral History Masters Program at Columbia University. She is the editor of How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America and gave a TEDx talk on "Why We Need to Amplify Indigenous Voices" in 2021. She lives in New York, New York.